New Delhi: “Everybody asks us about the face of our alliance,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Wednesday on her decision to propose Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial face for 2024.
The Trinamool Congress chief replied in the affirmative when asked by reporters if she had forwarded Kharge’s name as a ‘Dalit PM candidate’ during the fourth meeting of the Opposition coalition, held in New Delhi Tuesday.
“Yes, I did. I gave the proposal because everybody says there should be a face (of the INDIA bloc). We have no objections to Khargeji being that (PM) face. I have no issues. I was supported by Arvind Kejriwal,” Mamata told reporters in the capital.
She was also asked if another key Opposition leader, Nitish Kumar, was miffed at her proposal. “I have no information about that,” the TMC chief told reporters.
#WATCH | On PM face for INDIA bloc, TMC's Mamata Banerjee says, "I have proposed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's name. Arvind Kejriwal supported my proposal." pic.twitter.com/73pS7xTPrW
— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2023
Addressing a press conference after Tuesday’s meeting — which was attended by 28 parties — Kharge had neither confirmed nor denied that his name was proposed as a consensus prime ministerial candidate.
“It is more important to focus on winning the elections. PM face can be decided later. We need to improve the count of our MPs first. If there are no MPs, what is the point of having a PM face?” he remarked.
Apart from the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, at least nine other parties were on board with Mamata’s proposal, sources told ThePrint. In the meeting, however, Kharge had maintained that he was not hankering for any post.
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